Helping to Heal
by munkeemunkee
Summary: Full of all sorts of stuff! The main ingrediant being action, with lots of humor, and a bit of drama and romance scattered here and there! Naruto and team seven meet a band of rogues as well as many others. Please R&R my first fic!
1. Chapter 1: A New Arrival

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I did, though. That would be awesome, to be able to draw like Kishimoto-sensei… sigh…

--

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Tell us a story, grandpa!" Four little children were pulling on an old man's trousers as he read a book in the den. He was sitting in his oldest and favorite chair, and there was a comforting fire lit in the hearth. The children were all dressed in their warmest clothes and had on thick, woolen stockings to help shelter them from the biting chill of the cabin.

"Grandpa, tell us a story! Please?!" the children continued to pester the man, who was trying (and failing) to ignore them.

"Grandpa!!" they shouted.

"Hmm?" he said, looking up from the pages as if he had just noticed them. "Well, what do we have here? What do you young terrors want? Can't you see I'm trying to read? Go bother your grandmother and leave me be." Despite his harsh words, the kindness was plainly evident in the old man's voice as he scolded them.

"But, grandpa! Grandma can't tell any good stories!" one of the little boys insisted.

"Sure she can."

"Not like you do, grandpa." a little girl tried to flatter him.

"Huh … I suppose you have a point there."

"Just one story?" the other little boy begged, with a pleading look in his eyes.

The old man looked thoughtful. "If I tell you a story, do you promise to calm down a little?"

"Yes, yes, we do!" the first boy promised enthusiastically.

"We'll be like little angels." The last little girl said in her most charming voice, and she swirled the hem of her dress around her legs.

"Well…" he left off his sentence halfway.

"Well…?" the children all asked.

"Alright." The old man said with a smile.

"HOORAY!!" the children all shouted. They began to jump up and down while cheering, "A story! A story! We're gonna hear a story!!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait just a minute, now! I can't tell a story with all of this hooting and hollering!" the man said in an attempt to control the children. Almost immediately they all sat down, in order to thwart the threat to their story-time.

"All settled down now?" the man inquired, to the response of vigorous nodding. "Okay. Now for that story. It all started on a hot spring day, a long time ago…"

--

The sun was bright and shining. The birds were twittering away. The clouds were slowly rolling across the morning sky in the breeze.

And three ninja were on their way to the forest training area.

The first was a tall, dark, handsome young man. His raven-colored hair shone in the sun, and his piercing onyx eyes roved across the landscape around him and his two companions. A small drop of sweat ran down his neck and over a small, black curse mark on his shoulder to continue down his back. Underneath his dark blue shirt he was boiling, but he didn't show it. Uchiha Sasuke rarely showed any emotion.

The second was a young kunoichi. Her short pink hair was tied off of her forehead with her hitai-ate, and her bright green eyes sparkled as she stared at Sasuke. Her red jumper flapped around her blue shorts as she tried to keep up with the Uchiha heir's long pace. She often daydreamed of having a romantic dinner with him, sitting beneath the candle light and sipping on the finest wine…

"Oof!" she cried out as she tripped on a rock in the path. Sasuke looked back at her.

"Are you always this clumsy?"

_So much for that dream,_ she thought.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, are you okay?!" The young shinobi's voice behind her was filled with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She looked back at him. The man was her age, 16, and a fellow chunin. Dressed in his usual loud orange jumpsuit, he leaned down and offered his hand. She stared at his boyish face, the three distinct whisker-marks on each cheek, his cerulean eyes, and his spiky, unkept blonde hair. Everyone in Konohagakure recognized his face, and the trouble that came along with it.

His name was Uzumaki Naruto!!

--

The ninja were walking while they ate lunch. Naruto began to unzip his jacket while he led the way.

"Man, it's hot! And would you guys hurry up back there!?" he yelled over his shoulder.

"Naruto, we're meeting Kakashi. No matter when we show up, he'll still be late." Sasuke remarked.

"Yeah, Naruto, Sasuke's right! We're not in any rush." Sakura told him.

"Doesn't mean we have to let the snails pass us up! Hey look, there's one now…" he stared at the little slug on the path as it slithered by.

"Shut up, Naruto." Sakura was beginning to get irritated.

Ignoring her, he asked, "What did Kakashi want to see us for anyway?"

"Said he wanted us to meet somebody…" Sasuke mumbled.

--

In a small clearing nearby, a young girl was practicing her aim. Several targets were set up around her, and she was deep in concentration. She stared straight ahead as she prepared to throw. The muscles in her arms bulged as her grip tightened around the handle of her kunai. And just before she threw – she heard footsteps.

_Approximately 35 meters east/northeast … two men – no, three – no, two, one's a woman … walking slowly … and coming this way! Oh, shit – I have to get ready!!_

The girl's mind raced as she hastily began to gather all of her training equipment. The sound of the footsteps grew closer as she finished packing away the targets and feverishly began setting traps for whoever was approaching. As she finally disguised all signs of even walking through the area (let alone having weapons practice), the footsteps nearly upon her and the voices of the ninja clearly audible, she finally was able to escape into the cover of the branches above her.

And through the trees came – who else? Cell Seven.

"I'm telling you, I could beat the Chidori!!" Naruto was shouting angrily.

"And _I'm _telling _you_ that the Chidori cuts through anything!! That includes whatever lame technique you can possibly think up, you drop-out failure!!" Sasuke shot back.

"WHAT'D YOU JUST CALL ME!?" Naruto was just about an inch away from killing Sasuke right then and there.

"Would _both of you knock it off_!?" Sakura was not in the mood for another Naruto vs. Sasuke death-match, thank you, not after what happened the _last _time they fought. The building and repair costs still made her shiver.

"Not until Lord of the Emo over there takes it BACK!!" Naruto jabbed his finger in Sasuke's direction.

"Why? Too scared of the _truth_?!"

"I said, KNOCK IT OFF!! We are NINJA, so start acting like it!!" Sakura yelled again, to no avail.

"I'll take you on right here –" Sasuke began, only to be cut short by the sharp point of a kunai. The only thing that saved his head from being skewered was his lightning-reflexes – he felt the breeze as he whipped his head back and the knife instead went harmlessly past his nose.

"What the hell –" Naruto was interrupted as well as dozens more rained down upon the unexpecting ninja.

"Tsk, tsk – fighting with your own teammates. I thought only schoolchildren did that. Shame on you! You call yourselves ninja?" a voice above them scolded them as if they were just that – schoolchildren.

"What about you?! Why don't you come out and face us like a man instead of hiding in the trees like a coward?!" Naruto shouted back.

"Because fortunately, I'm not a man." The young kunoichi jumped down from the trees.

Sasuke looked mildly surprised, Sakura looked shocked, and Naruto looked absolutely dumbfounded. His jaw was hanging open, and he had not the will to close it.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" the kunoichi asked coolly. She was calmly twirling a kunai on her finger. Her eyes were closed and a smile hovered on her lips. She obviously thought that the shinobi in front of her did not present a threat. She had long, golden-brown hair, and her skin was so tan it looked like she had to have been from another country (although, they couldn't be sure – she wore no hitai-ate). She was wearing a dark blue fitted t-shirt and long, kakhi cargo-shorts, in which she stored several kunai and scrolls. Her sandals were different, too – instead of the normal blue, opened toe variety, hers were more like flip-flops in the sense that they had a thong between the first and second toe. The soles were also unique – there wasn't any sole at all in the bridge of the foot, only under the ball and heel. She was younger than all of the others by at least a year, and she wasn't very tall, but the way she stood there – she actually had he audacity to just stand there like that, and not even look at them – it was really pissing Sasuke off.

"Just who do you think you are to be lecturing _us_? Don't you have any respect for authority?!" he questioned her.

The girl looked thoughtful. "Hmm … can't say that I do." she stated with a shrug.

"Well, it's about time someone taught you some manners!!" Naruto interjected. He swiftly bent down to pull a kunai out of the ground, and started walking toward her.

"No." Sasuke thrust his hand out in front of his teammate, halting his advance. "This one's all mine." He smirked as he took the kunai from Naruto's hand. The battle was about to begin.

"Sharingan!!" he shouted. Suddenly, his eyes went from their former piercing onyx to a threatening blood-red hue. He had activated his kekkei genkai.

"An Uchiha, huh? Well," the girl opened her eyes, "this should be fun!"

For a moment, all of them, even Sasuke, were taken by surprise.

"Her eyes … is she a Hyuga?" Naruto asked.

"No, even Hyuga eyes have a silvery color, but hers are sheer white!!" Sakura's voice shook slightly as she answered. She wasn't even looking at him when she said it. She was just staring into those eyes – the eyes of the young girl before them.

"She's right. I'm no Hyuga. Those are the ones with the Byakugan – the all-seeing eye. But I'm afraid my eyes aren't all-seeing. In fact, I can't even see at all." She told them.

"You're blind?" Sasuke asked. He deactivated his Sharingan. All thoughts of fighting were temporarily banished from his mind, replaced by curiosity. "And yet, you are a ninja? How?" his voice, once loud, was now as soft as one trying to coax a small kitten out of its hiding place.

"Fight me, and maybe you'll find out." she replied, none too politely.

"Humph … I'm not going to fight a blind little girl." He said, tossing the kunai in his hand down at her feet. "I believe this is yours." Sasuke turned and began walking away.

"Why not?" the kunoichi asked. Unlike before, when her voice was calm, taunting them, now it sounded as if he had disappointed her -- like a child who is promised, but never receives, candy. Her smile had now disappeared, replaced by a slight frown.

"You can't see, while I can see better then anyone here. Also, out of the four of us, you are the shortest, while I am the tallest, naturally making me stronger than you, and probably faster, as well. And let's not forget that I was the top rookie genin in my class, as well as the current top rookie chunin. You are obviously foreign, so I don't know what kind of training or education you have, but I've dealt with a lot of foreigners before, and I know all the main techniques of each shinobi village as well as how to counter them. So, in almost every way, whether it be strength, speed, rank, jutsu –" at this point, he had turned around and jabbed her in the forehead, "– or _eyesight_, I have the upper hand. It's a certain victory in my favor. I would be shaming my honor as both a ninja and an Uchiha if I took advantage of you like that." Smirking, he once again turned away, and began walking over toward the rest of his team to where he had dropped his backpack.

"Your honor as a ninja?" she tried to keep her voice calm, but it was evident that Sasuke had struck a nerve. "How about this? I, Ichino Rosuto, challenge you, the _Uchiha_, on the honor of my nindo!" She spat out the word _Uchiha_ as though it were poison on her lips.

Sasuke looked back at her.

"Now, to uphold your _honor as a ninja _and an_ Uchiha_, you must accept my challenge, or become a coward in the face of your teammates!"

"Fine." He said calmly. "And by the way, my name is Uchiha_ Sasuke_."

Naruto frowned as he whispered to Sakura. "What the fuck is going on here? I mean, one minute, she's all cool and stuff while Sasuke's pissed off, she tells us she's blind, and now the tables have turned! Who the hell is this chick, anyway?!"

"Well, obviously her name is Rosuto, she just said that! Weren't you listening?!"

"Uhh … maybe?"

"BAKA!" Sakura promptly smacked him upside the head.

"Yeah, yeah, what I meant was, what's her deal? She's so weird … for instance, how many ninja have you heard of that were blind? And what village is she from? What kind of techniques would she be able to use, being blind and all? And how did she know we were even coming in the first place?"

"Duh! It wasn't exactly hard to hear you two arguing! She's blind, not deaf!!"

"But, Sakura-chan, she must have known at least fifteen minutes in advance in order to be able to set up all of those kunai – she didn't throw them, it was a trap, and we sprung it. Plus, she probably set up more traps than just the one. This whole clearing is probably one death-pit waiting to happen."

"It's like she said before, I heard you." a voice behind them whispered.

The two ninja turned around to see … Rosuto?

"B-but – you were just over –" Naruto began to stutter. They both looked back over to where Sasuke was standing, about twenty feet away. He was too focused on his opponent to notice their whispers. Wait, that can't be right, his opponent is Rosuto!

"Kage Bunshin!!" Naruto suddenly realized that they had just fallen for another trap.

"That's right!" Four more clones stepped out from behind.

_They are so screwed,_ Rosuto thought.

_We are so screwed,_ Sakura thought.

_That idiot is so screwed,_ Naruto thought.

Naruto formed a quick series of katas, then put his hands into the final position, with his index and middle fingers crossing each other and his other fingers and thumbs forming partial fists. He grinned in such a fiendish way that it would make any normal adult cringe in horror.

"You're not the only one here who has a few tricks up their sleeve! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!"

_Got 'em_, Rosuto thought.

With a large puff of smoke, Naruto's reinforcements materialized around them, easily outnumbering Rosuto's doppelgangers. The mysterious kunoichi chuckled as most of the clones around her dissipated, leaving only one standing in front of them and one in front of Sasuke (who was still oblivious to what they were doing).

"Let's take this somewhere else, shall we?" Rosuto smirked back at him as she vanished into the forest canopy.

(Meanwhile)

Sasuke stared at his foe. How, _how_, did she have the nerve to stand here before him, in open defiance?! Most enemies cowered in fear when they heard the name Uchiha.

"You must be either very brave or raving mad." He voiced his thoughts out loud.

"Is there a difference? If a shinobi tries and succeeds, he is brave. If he fails, he is insane. Either way, he is simply a desperate shinobi."

"Heh. Funny kid. But you must be a _very_ desperate shinobi if you wish to challenge me, especially knowing my reputation as an Uchiha."

"Sasuke, right? I've heard about you. The lone survivor of the Uchiha clan. Well, not exactly. Not from what a certain man tells me." She smirked at him.

"Huh?" Sasuke let out a short gasp. She couldn't mean …

"That's right. I've met your brother. And Itachi seems to think very differently than you do, Mr. _I'm so much taller and faster and better than you are._ In fact, he told me the exact opposite of what you said. He seems to think that you are weak, and you disgrace yourself and all of the Uchiha clan. And from what he told me of your last battle, your attacks aren't exactly as powerful and wide-ranged as you claim them to be."

Sasuke let a low growl escape his throat. _Damn that bitch – she's probably known all along what I can do based on what Itachi told her. But the battle she's talking about happened nearly a four years ago, and I've gained a few new skills since then. _Sasuke dropped into a fighting stance, and pulled out some shuriken from the holster tied to his right leg.

"You really shouldn't believe everything you hear, you know. You might find that in the end it will only come back to haunt you." His hand was merely a blur as he threw the shuriken straight at her face.

"Chh." she smirked, and suddenly appeared two feet over toward Sasuke's left. "Is that all you can come up with? A few shuriken?"

Temporarily flabbergasted, Sasuke said nothing. How could she have dodged his shuriken? _How?!_

"Alright, just to make things interesting, why don't we play a little hide-and-seek?" she asked him.

"Huh?" was all he managed to say.

"This is how it works: you go and hide, anywhere you want to within a 50-meter radius, and I try to find you within a minute."

"What's the point in that?"

"Just so I can prove my skills to you. Obviously you think that I can't take care of my self and it's impossible for me to be a good kunoichi, so I'm going to prove you wrong. Your stealth versus my technique. We'll have three rounds, and at the end of the third round, we get down to business and have a good old-fashioned brawl. If I win, you take back everything you said about me and admit that you're not all that simply because you're an Uchiha."

"And if I win … ?"

"I'll do whatever you want."

"Whatever I want, eh? Heh heh heh …" Sasuke licked the edge of his knife. "That does sound interesting."

_Perve,_ she thought.

"I'll give you to the count of ten. One, two …" Sasuke had already taken off at "one". He was hidden well enough by the time she said "five". He didn't put much effort into it; after all, she was blind. Not much she could do seeking-wise if she didn't have anything to seek _with_.

"… nine, ten! Ready or not, here I come!!" she declared cheerfully. She quickly disappeared into the trees off in the other direction.

Sasuke couldn't help letting out a small chuckle. _That idiot has no clue what she's doing. She'll probably run smack into a tree!_

"Found you!" a voice behind him said happily.

"Whoa!!" Sasuke fell off of the branch he had perched on in surprise.

"Ha ha ha!! Can't even keep your balance, eh? How do you expect to win at this rate?!" she mocked him.

Sasuke merely grunted in reply.

"All right, time for Round Two! And this time, pick a better hiding spot!" she commented. "It's no fun when you make it too easy!"

The kunoichi began to count once again. So strange, she was staring right at him with those unnatural eyes. How did she even have a clue where he was? It just didn't make sense. She couldn't see him or his footsteps on the forest path …

All of the sudden, her words flashed through his mind.

"– _Your stealth against my skill –"_

That's it! He had the answer!!

--

It was a high-speed chase through the foliage.

Naruto and Sakura could barely keep up with Rosuto as she leaped over branches, around trunks, and through various shrubbery.

The foreign shinobi reached into one of her many pockets and produced several shuriken, which she promptly threw without even pausing to turn around and face them.

"Whoa!!" Naruto exclaimed as he barely managed to dodge her attack. "How'd she do that!?"

"I've already told you, she can hear us! That's how she targets us – when we speak or move, the noise we make lets her know exactly where we are!!" Sakura explained as she tried to dodge several more shuriken. One bit painfully into her left shoulder and she let out a gasp as the wound twinged.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?!" Naruto's usually happy-go-lucky features were now full of concern for his female teammate.

"Yeah, it's not too deep – it only grazed me."

"Okay – will you be able to take care of yourself for a minute?"

"I already told you, it's not that deep!"

"Good!"

Naruto put on a new burst of speed as he caught up to his quarry, leaving Sakura behind. Rosuto sped up as well, until Sakura lost sight of them both. She stopped.

"Oh, well. I'll just bandage this wound then." she mumbled to herself as she pulled a small roll of bandages out of her kunai holster. She hadn't told the total truth to Naruto before – the wound was at least an inch deep, and would require stitches, but she wasn't prepared for that and she didn't want him to worry over her all the time. He got worried even when she tripped and scraped her knee. It was quite annoying, actually. She was a chunin now – she could take care of herself. But a deeper part of her realized that he only worried because he cared, not because he thought she was weak.

_Odd, a shuriken wound shouldn't be that deep at all. They aren't heavy enough to cause that much damage, _she thought. Sakura looked around until she found one that had hit a tree trunk. Careful not to cut herself on the edges, she pulled it out of the bark and examined it. Suddenly, her face was covered in shock. These weren't regular steel shuriken at all – they were made out of lead. Not only that, but there were traces of something on the edges ...

She dropped the shuriken as her right hand unconsciously leapt to her shoulder. _If my hunch is correct, then I need medical treatment, now! _she thought as she turned back. _But wait – what about Naruto?_

Sakura sped off as fast as she could in the direction that Naruto had taken.

--

Rosuto couldn't believe this kid. He had been barely keeping up with her before, but now he was almost completely caught up! _What's with him, anyway? I barely hit that chick and he's getting all freaked out about it. Sheesh!_

The kunoichi began to run faster as Naruto got closer. They were nearing the forest training grounds now, were Naruto officially became a genin. Once they got there, he would punish her badly for what she did to Sakura! His pink-haired teammate said she was okay, but Naruto knew from that gasp of pain she had let out that it hurt more than Sakura was letting on.

As soon as he caught up with the shinobi in front of him, he would make her pay!!

--

Author's note:

Yeah, so here it is – my first fanfic.

In the story, cell seven are now all chunin, and 16 years old (this fic was started just after the sound-sand joint invasion when Tsunade is appointed Fifth Hokage, so anything after that in the cannon doesn't affect the storyline). Their old teacher, Kakashi-sensei, asked them to meet him at the forest training area where they all became genin. But of course, he's not there yet. Don't worry, though, he'll show up next chapter.

Rosuto is a character that I made up. Her personality is based off my own. I'm not blind, but my vision does suck, big-time. Everything else about our personalities is similar, but her abilities, background, and history are all made up. Obviously.

I came up with the idea for this story after a long conversation with my best friend about what we would be like if we were in the world of Naruto. You might see her character next chapter, or maybe the one after that. I'm not sure yet. But it will be hilarious.

Anyway, back to the story. Sasuke has no idea where the rest of his team is, Sakura might have been poisoned, and Naruto is headed straight for a trap. None of them knows who is fighting the _real_ Rosuto. AND WHERE THE HELL IS KAKASHI DURING ALL THIS? Late, of course.

Please review! If I don't get enough reviews I might quit writing it, and you'll never know the ending! HAHAHA! But in all seriousness, tell me if you enjoyed it.

Now get reviewing!!


	2. Chapter 2: The Challenge

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, I admit it, so you can't sue me now!! (laughs at evil lawyer guy standing over her shoulder)

--

"Five, six, seven … why haven't you moved yet? This round will end quickly if you don't go anywhere."

Sasuke was sitting on the ground in front of her._ There it is – more proof. She fights through sound. She can hear her enemy, locate him, and attack._

"Hello? This is hide-and-seek! You're supposed to hide, while I seek you! Don't you get it?!" Rosuto stood over him and poked him in the forehead to emphasize her last sentence.

He looked up at her. "No matter where I hide, you'll be able to hear me. I can't get far enough away in ten seconds."

"Oh, so you figured me out, huh? Took you long enough. That girl you were with got it a lot faster." She leaned down so that he was at her eye level. "Tell you what, just to be fair, I'll let you have an extra fifteen seconds. Deal?"

She was talking to him as if she were in a position to give him charity, not a foreign ninja trespassing on Konohagakure territory.

"Fine. Start counting." He said as he took off. _I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Playing hide-and-seek with a little girl. I bet she's still a genin. And I actually took her bait._

Sasuke made a mental note to kick himself later.

--

As soon as they broke through the leaves, Naruto tackled the kunoichi. They rolled over and over, punching and kicking, and in Rosuto's case, scratching (long nails are nice). Naruto tried to put her in a headlock, but she easily wiggled out of it and jumped back.

They both stopped and stared at each other, panting for breath.

"You're pretty good," she told him.

"You too," he replied, "for a girl." Actually, he was rather impressed. Naruto had built up a lot of muscle over the years, but she had held her own against him, despite the fact that he was older and bigger than she was.

"Heh … I'll take that as a compliment." she smiled at him.

"Enough playtime. Let's get down to business!" Naruto began forming seals in preparation for an attack. Immediately, Rosuto began to form seals as well, and they finished simultaneously, crying out:

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!"

Instantly, nearly two thousand of their clones filled the training area. With a loud battle cry, they all took to the air, hurling themselves at each other.

One by one, the clones began to dissipate. Both shinobi punched, kicked, and sliced their way through the clones to get to the other. The smoke filled the air as they defeated each other's Bunshin, slowly making their way to the center of the fray.

When Naruto threw his kunai through the head of yet another clone, he suddenly sighted her. Rosuto lashed out against an onslaught of a dozen of his doppelgangers, her fists and feet a wild melee of blows. He swiftly pulled out another kunai and charged.

"Hyaaa-HAAAAAAAHH!!" he swung his arm back, ready to pierce through her skull.

Rosuto swiftly bent backwards, almost impossibly far, in order to dodge the blow. She placed her arms backward, carrying the motion to do a complete backflip. Naruto had to take a step back in order to avoid her knee colliding into his chin, accidentally dropping his kunai in the process. She landed in a crouching position, instantly jumping back up to attack. They both slammed their palms together, their fingers interlocking as they pitted their strength against the other, trying to force the foe back.

Naruto was winning. Rosuto grunted as the earth grinded beneath her feet; she was slowly sliding backwards. They both stared into the other's eyes, the will to win evident on their faces, the sweat dripping off their bodies. But the connection they shared in that look went deeper than that. Far deeper than he knew.

She dropped her head, breaking the link between them. Her neck went totally limp, her shoulders visibly drooping. Her feet slid another ten centimeters. Her teeth grinded together as she struggled to not lose control.

"I … will … not … LOSE!!" Rosuto yelled defiantly at her enemy. Her muscles bulged, her grip tightened, nearly breaking his fingers. When she looked back up at him, hair partially obscuring her face, her eyes had changed. They were no longer the calm, sheer white from before. Her eyes were now filled with pure, red-hot fury. They were the color of blood.

A primordial cry ripped from her throat as she pushed back. Naruto slid one foot, two feet, three feet backward before Rosuto pushed him from her grasp. He nearly lost his balance, and didn't see what was coming next.

She punched him right below his ribcage, severely damaging his diaphragm. Then she got behind him, her roundhouse kick colliding with his ribs, pushing him sideways. Immediately, she appeared at his side, driving her fist right into the side of his face, splitting his lip and knocking a few teeth loose in the process.

Rosuto continually landed fearsome blows, each time pushing Naruto in another direction, until she suddenly appeared next to him (whether through a teleportation technique or just high speed, he couldn't tell) and hit him again. Each time she hit a vital area; his ribs, kidneys, diaphragm, head, liver, spine, shoulder, the list went on. She even took out a knife once to slash his Achilles tendon on his right leg, crippling him.

She persistently punished his body like this until she could no longer think of any area to attack. Then after landing one last kick, she left him to fall on the ground, bruised, bloody, and barely able to breath. He was too weak to use what little chakra he had left, and all of his Bunshin had dispersed. He had lost their match of strength.

But he wasn't finished yet.

_Ugh … I can barely keep my eyes open. She's a lot stronger than she looks. _

Naruto rolled over onto his stomach. The motion put pressure on his ribs, and he could barely keep himself from crying out at the fiery pain that swept through his body. They were clearly broken. Next, he tried to push himself up off the ground, his muscles in perpetual agony as he barely managed to prop himself up on his hands and knees. He coughed up a small amount of blood. _It's been a long time since I coughed up blood, _he thought. _I haven't been in this bad of condition since my first chunin exams. _

He glanced up at her. "You won't get me –" he coughed up more blood, "– that easy. I don't quit. I don't just lay down and die." Naruto coughed up a little more blood. He was in pretty bad shape. This was definitely no ordinary little girl.

"How old are you?" he weakly asked her.

"Fourteen." Rosuto was breathing heavily. After losing control and attacking him like that, she had worn herself out. She dropped heavily to the ground, ending up, ironically, in the same position Naruto was in; on her hands and knees.

"Huh. Sasuke was wrong after all. You can fight pretty well." Naruto's mouth was now covered in blood. It was beginning to drip down his chin.

"You're … not … that bad … yourself," she gasped, "normally, … anyone else … would be dead by now." Rosuto smiled weakly at him. "I'm almost … out of chakra."

"Me too," he rasped.

"Whadya say … we call it a draw … and go get you … some medical treatment?" her breathing rate was slowly getting worse, but she tried not to show it.

"Sounds good to me. But first, you have to promise me something." he grinned a her.

"What?"

"That someday, we'll have a rematch."

"Deal."

Sakura leapt from branch to branch, moving as fast as she could. She had to find Naruto, before the fight between him and the mysterious shinobi named Rosuto escalated. That girl used a special kind of weapon, and if she attacked Naruto there was no doubt that he would be in trouble.

She pushed herself even faster. Both of their lives were in danger! She had to get there in time!!

Sakura could see the light coming from a break in the trees. She was nearly there! Her lungs were burning and her thighs starting to cramp up from the stress. _Come on, don't quit on me now! Just a few more feet, _she thought.

Finally she burst through the last few branches. She let out a small gasp of shock.

There they were, both on their knees, exhausted. Naruto looked awful, covered in cuts and bruises, blood dripping from his mouth. Rosuto's breathing was irregular, and she had started wheezing; her limbs were shaking. Sakura was too late.

And yet, remarkably, they were both smiling.

"Naruto?" Sakura ventured.

"Huh?" both shinobi looked up at her, but Rosuto didn't say anything.

"Are you all right?" Sakura asked.

"No, Sakura – I don't think I am." he replied.

Both of the shinobi in front of Sakura collapsed on the ground.

--

Sasuke had been found. For the third time.

"Looks like I win again!" Rosuto smirked at him.

He scowled right back at her.

"Oh!" she cried out. Her triumphant grin turned into a look of mild surprise, as she suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He had been playing hide-and-seek with a little girl's doppelganger! And lost!!

Sasuke made a mental note not to tell Naruto about this.

And where was Naruto, anyway? Sasuke ran back to where he had left his backpack. It was still lying there on the ground, along with everyone else's stuff.

And _everyone else_ had vanished into thin air.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke activated his kekkei genkai. Immediately, the world around him was seen in a higher aspect. No leaf, no insect, no tiny detail escaped him. Including the footprints that his teammates and enemy had left behind. So she had distracted him while fighting the others somewhere else. He had badly underestimated the foreign shinobi.

Sasuke took off for the forest training ground. That's where the footprints where headed.

--

Sakura frantically rushed over to Naruto. She checked his pulse – his heart was still beating fine. It was then she noticed the blood beginning to seep into his jacket. She flipped him over on his back, pulled out a kunai, and sliced though his shirt. She bit her lip as she inspected his chest. He had several broken ribs, and he was bleeding – Rosuto had hit him so hard that one of his ribs had punctured his right lung. He was having trouble breathing – besides his lung filling with blood, his diaphragm was severely damaged and he could barely move. Several other essential organs had been damaged as well, and he suffered from major internal bleeding. He was just barely conscious.

"Sakura … chan …" he muttered.

"Naruto, don't talk. You're in critical condition!"

"Help … Rosuto." Blood dripped from his mouth and down his chin. "I'll be … alright."

"Naruto, I can't! You're my teammate! She's foreign!! And look how badly you're hurt!"

"Kyuubi," was all he said before unconsciousness took him. It was only a simple word, but she understood the meaning behind it. He was referring to the fox demon that the Fourth Hokage locked inside of him. It would keep him alive … for now.

Sakura turned to the young kunoichi to her right. She was laying on her side, her breath coming in short, uneven gasps. She fell on her back, clutching her chest. Even as Sakura watched, her breathing became worse. Rosuto began to have muscle spasms, and her wheezing breaths caught in her throat. She began to choke, seemingly on the very air she breathed. Sakura rushed to her aid, bending down and pressing her ear to Rosuto's chest to listen. A look of horror flashed across her face. The kunoichi before her had developed ventricular fibrillation, and there was no way she could perform a surgery in the middle of the forest.

Out of nowhere, a puff of smoke filled the clearing, and a ninja stepped forward. It was Kakashi.

"Yo," he stated as he walked over to Sakura. When he opened his one uncovered eye and took in the scene before him, his cool attitude changed. "What's going on here?" he asked, mildly surprised.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!? WE'VE TOTALLY LOST SASUKE, NARUTO HAS A PUNCTURED LUNG AND IS BLEEDING INTERNALLY, AND THIS FOREIGN-NIN IS SUFFERING FROM VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION AND IF WE DON'T GET THEM BOTH TO THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW THEY COULD DIE!! NOT TO MENTION I MIGHT HAVE LEAD POISONING!!" Sakura ranted at him.

"Oh. That's all?" he asked her. "I thought it would be worse."

"HOW COULD IT BE WORSE?! **SASUKE IS MISSING!!**" she screamed at him.

"Okay, okay, chill. I don't need you freaking out on me. Ventricular fibrillation, a punctured lung, internal bleeding, and lead poisoning, you say? We better go see Tsunade for this one. Sasuke can find his own way back." Kakashi took Naruto and gently hefted him into his arms so that he wasn't touching the blonde's damaged ribs. A small trickle of blood ran down his lips.

"Can you get her? With Naruto like this, I can't carry two bodies."

"Yeah." Sakura hefted Rosuto onto her back, and winced as the young girl's uneven breathing reached her ears. A few more minutes, and she would be dead. They needed to get back to Konohagakure, now.

"Okay. Gather the chakra in your feet," Kakashi instructed her, "and move as fast and smoothly as you can. That one doesn't need any more jostling than she's already got."

Sakura nodded as they took off toward the west.

--

Sasuke followed the footprints until he reached the training ground. The first thing he noticed when he not there was the blood spattered all over the ground. The second thing he noticed was the scroll tied to a kunai that was shoved into the earth in the middle of it. He opened it and read:

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_Met Kakashi and gone back to the village. Meet us there in the hospital. Naruto needs help. See you soon!_

_Sakura_

He tossed the scroll back onto the ground. _Great, _he thought. _Now I have to carry all of their stuff back. Figures._

_--_

"Grandpa, is Naruto gonna die? I don't want him to die!" one of the little girls sobbed as she looked up at her grandfather.

"No, not yet he isn't. Not for a while after that," he answered.

"But what about that other girl?" a little boy asked. "I don't want her to die, either!"

"No, no, no. No one dies. Don't worry about it!" he smiled down at them.

"Okay." They all nodded in response, apparently satisfied.

--

Author's Note:

So here's the second chapter of my first fanfic. Did a lot of research on this one, but you won't be able to really tell until next chapter. Also ended up a lot shorter than the last one, too. And why does no one review?! IT'S NOT THAT HARD, PEOPLE!!

I will introduce some new characters next chapter!! (ha ha!)

So, Kakashi shows up late (but you all knew he would, anyway), Sakura feels the first affects of the wound she got earlier, Naruto and Rosuto are dying, and Sasuke still hasn't caught up to this recent turn of events.

What is that idiot doing, anyway?

Now, on to the next chapter! It comes over the horizon!!

So review now while you wait for it!


	3. Chapter 3: A Glimpse of the Past

You know what, ppl? It seems as though nobody on my favorites likes to update. I mean seriously, they all stop updating. AT THE SAME TIME!! It's starting to get REALLY annoying. So I just decided, to hell with it, I'm gonna go ahead and post all of my chapters. Which equals about 4 (including Ch1). So you people can read 'em. Aren't I so nice?

Disclaimer: I still don't own it!! TT

--

Kakashi and Sakura were waiting between two hospital beds. Waiting, and watching. Kakashi was leaning nonchalantly against Rosuto's bed, reading the latest novel of Icha Icha Paradise. Sakura merely stared at Naruto's empty expression, as he lay with several machines beeping and tubes pumping several fluids through his body. Her chair was turned away from Kakashi and Rosuto.

"You seem upset," Kakashi commented.

"It's her fault. It's her fault he's like this." Sakura mumbled.

"Hmm … not exactly."

"What do you mean, not exactly?! _She_ fought him. _She_ hit him. _She_ was the one who pounded his body to a pulp." Sakura could barely restrain her temper.

"She was provoked," he stated calmly.

"Provoked!? SHE attacked US!! That's what started this whole mess in the first place!" she closed her eyes in a vain effort to hold back tears. "That's what got him like this."

Kakashi merely grunted in reply. He could remember a time when Sakura wouldn't give a shit if Naruto went and fell off a cliff. In fact, she would have rejoiced at the news. But now … they had grown a lot closer. They actually got along, most of the time. Naruto just grew on you like that.

He sighed as he put down his book, tucking it away into the kunai holster attached to his waist. He glanced over to where Rosuto lay. She was so young. So innocent-looking. How did she get caught up in this life - the life of a shinobi?

There were less tubes sticking out of her arms, and the only monitor she had was on her heart. Beating strong now, thanks to Tsunade-sama. They had just barely gotten her to the emergency room on time. Tsunade had chewed him out, of course, for letting her get in such condition when he was _supposed_ to be watching over her. He had shrugged it off, saying that he couldn't help it. She had "wandered away" from him.

In reality, he had left her to practice on her own in the forest right before the confrontation between her and Cell Seven. Surely she could take care of herself while he went on a few errands? But apparently that had been a mistake.

Kakashi sighed in annoyance. This is why he didn't like kids. They always got themselves into trouble, which almost always led to hospital bills. Not that he had much room to lecture - the things he did as a kid were far worse. But then again, he was shoved into a full-blown war. He had an excuse.

Sakura finally broke the silence. "Did Sasuke ever get back?"

"Not as far as I know. Not that he cares about Naruto anyway."

"He could at least come to keep me company." She complained.

Kakashi nearly rolled his eyes at how naïve she was. "Sakura," he explained, "Sasuke is a loner. He doesn't keep people company. He doesn't want _other people_ to keep _him_ company. He hates almost everyone in Konohagakure. He's not going to come."

Another tear ran down Sakura's cheek. She knew that, of course. She wasn't stupid. But she still kept up the hope that one day, Sasuke would look back at all the time they had spent together and realize how kind she had been to him all those years. Maybe. One day.

Rosuto stirred. Kakashi looked back over at her. Her eyes flickered open, and she sat up, turning her head in all directions.

_She's probably wondering where she is. Her sonar must be a little scrambled after that fight,_ Kakashi thought.

"Rosuto - over here," he stated, letting her know who and where he was.

Instantly, her head snapped over in his direction. She blinked.

"Kakashi-kun?" she looked dazed for a moment, and then her face lit up. "Kakashi-kun!!" she jumped out of bed and into his arms, simultaneously knocking over her I.V. and monitor. Kakashi gasped in pain as she knocked the wind out of him.

Sakura turned and looked at them. "Something wrong, Kakashi-san?"

"… Can't … breath!" he wheezed.

"Oh! Sorry." Rosuto released her hold on him. Then, the look of puzzlement returned to her face. "Where are we?"

Kakashi got up out of his chair and began picking up the spilled equipment. _Kids._

"We're in the hospital. I know you're still a little disoriented, so you couldn't tell. You suffered from ventricular fibrillation. You almost died. You _should_ be dead." he patiently explained, as dully as if he were going over his grocery list.

"Oh." she paused. "What about that other guy? What was his name?"

"He's over here." Sakura answered for him. "His name is Naruto." Sakura forced her voice to remain level.

Rosuto pulled out the I.V. from her arm and the monitor off her finger, then slowly got up and walked toward them. Her face was solemn as she reached out and touched his face, caressing his features, forming a mental picture in her mind of what he looked like.

"What colors does he have?"

"Hmm?" Sakura was puzzled by the question.

"His skin, his hair, his clothes, his eyes – describe them."

"Well –" Sakura began. She looked over at Kakashi, as if for approval. He nodded, as if to say, "Go on!"

Sakura cleared her throat and began again. "Well … he has tan skin. Not as tan as yours. And his hair is medium-blonde, and it's always messy. He wears the same, bright orange jumpsuit all the time, but right now he's wearing a hospital gown. His eyes are cerulean, and he has 3 black whisker-marks on each cheek. He's about five foot eight, and he's pretty muscular – but still lean, like a runner."

Rosuto nodded. "What else is noticeable about him?"

"Hmm … he goofs off all the time, and he loves playing pranks on people to get attention. But deep down, no matter how disrespectful or rude he may be, he loves the people in this village. His dream is to become the Hokage, so that everyone will love him and respect him, too. He's got a lot of courage and determination. He'd never give up on his dreams, or the people he cares about."

Rosuto closed her eyes. "Give me his hand."

"What for?" Sakura was intrigued, temporarily forgetting her resentment toward the girl.

"Just do it." The young kunoichi formed several seals, and held out her right hand. Sakura gently placed Naruto's hand in Rosuto's, and the girl placed her left hand on top of his. Her palms began to glow, and her brow was furrowed in concentration.

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. "She did this to me, once."

"Did what?" Sakura was halfway between curiosity and alarm.

"Read my palm." Sakura gave him a skeptical look. Kakashi looked back at her. "What? It's a very interesting technique."

"Uh-huh." Sakura wasn't buying it. "Does it show your future or something?"

"Just watch," he told her.

Rosuto let out a small gasp. She let her hands go limp as she fell back onto her bed. Kakashi walked over and sat down beside her.

"What did you see?" Kakashi put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She didn't answer. "What did you see?" he repeated, a little more forcefully.

"His memories … they're awful." Her voice came out in a frightened whisper. "And the demon …"

Rosuto covered her mouth to suppress a scream as she stared at Naruto with those sightless eyes.

"What happened? What did she do?" Sakura had a worried expression on her face. Kakashi turned his attention to her.

"It's a special technique she uses. It allows her to experience the target's most significant memories, their most prominent emotions," he explained.

"Isn't that kind of an invasion of privacy?"

"Not really – she's not reading people's minds. Only their personalities. Sort of like a small summary about them. She must have picked up on Naruto's childhood – the time in his life when he was surrounded by hatred, anger, fear – and of course a legendary demon is kind of hard to miss."

"How does she do that?" Sakura's eyes were wide with amazement.

"She's extremely sensitive to that sort of thing – very few people would be able to do it, even if she was open to teaching it. But let's not get into that now. We're about –" Kakashi glanced up at the clock – "an hour late for our meeting with Tsunade-sama." He reached into his backpack that was lying next to his chair on the floor, and pulled out a brown-paper bundle tied with a string. "Here's some clothes. Get her changed out of that hospital gown and meet me outside in five minutes." He tossed the package to her and walked out of the room.

Rosuto was still staring blankly at Naruto. Sakura touched her hand.

"Rosuto?" the child jumped.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I was just lost in thought." She smiled at Sakura. Sakura smiled back, despite herself. This child was very intriguing, to say the least.

"Come on, you have to get dressed so we can go to your meeting with Kakashi and Tsunade-sama." Sakura unwrapped the package.

"What did he bring for me to wear?"

Sakura looked at the garments. "Let's see … "

--

Tsunade looked at the clock again. Four thirty-seven. _He should have been here at three._ _Why does he always insist on being late?_

--

Rosuto stepped out of the main entrance of the hospital and into the afternoon sunlight. Her new attire included a long, fitted tee; it was black with the blue Konoha leaf emblem on the back, navy blue shorts that were mid-thigh length, and platform sandals that had ribbons tied all the way up her calves. Her golden-brown hair was shimmering in the evening sunlight – Sakura had curled it nicely. And done her make-up. Rosuto's eyelids were tinted blue, which nicely complemented the shade of dark red lipstick she wore along with the subtle bronze blush (only subtle because of Rosuto's amazing tan – Sakura had complimented her on this several times, much to Rosuto's embarrassment).

When Kakashi saw Rosuto's stunning new look, he barely managed to control his laughter, which he "cleverly disguised" as a fit of coughs.

"Ha ha ha – ahem, cough cough - nice style you got there." How amazing – Sakura had gotten Rosuto to wear eye shadow. That was about a once-in-a-millennium occurrence. Rosuto hated make-up.

The young girl furiously whirled around to face Sakura. "See!? I told you he'd laugh!!" she pointed accusingly over her shoulder at Kakashi, who was now rolling around on the ground in tears. "Go on, LAUGH IT UP!!" she screamed at him.

"HOO HOO HAHAHAH!! AHH HAH HAH!! HA HA!!"

Sakura frowned at her former mentor's behavior. Rarely had Kakashi ever shown any emotion except boredom and indifference, and this was getting ridiculous.

"OH, COME ON, HAVE SOME TACT FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!!" she yelled at him as she kicked him in the ribs. Hard. And nearly breaking her toe in the process. Apparently Kakashi was wearing armor under his clothes.

"Ahahaha … ha ha … ha." He finally calmed down enough to breath properly as he wiped the tears off his face. "Oh, what I'd give for a camera right now …"

"SHUT UP!! YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY PICTURE!!" Rosuto started hyperventilating at the thought. She _hated_ it when people took her picture. _May all cameras burn …_

"Okay, okay, sheesh." Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. He had never seen her this dressed up before. She actually looked like a fourteen-year-old girl, not a soon-to-be Jounin. He got up and brushed the dirt off his pants. "Just relax, okay?"

"Humph." She turned up her nose at him, and stubbornly crossed her arms.

"Come on, Rosuto. Stop being so uptight." His words were met by silence. "Well, since you're going to ignore me, I guess I'll have to eat all of these pixie-sticks by myself …" he promptly pulled a few of the sugary treats out of his pocket.

"Sugar!? Where!?" She immediately turned around and caught the scent his handful of tasty goodness. She shrieked.

"OH, KAKASHI I LOVE YOU!! CANDY!!"

Sakura watched dumbfounded as the girl consumed the pixie-sticks gluttonously. _Mood swing, much?_ she thought.

Rosuto smacked her lips as she finished off the last one. Kakashi patted her head. "Come on, gotta go to the meeting now."

She nodded as she skipped happily down the streets ahead of the older shinobi. Sakura looked over at Kakashi.

"Mind if I come, too?"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Rosuto stopped and turned around. "I just realized something."

"What?" the other two asked simultaneously.

"I have absolutely no idea where I'm going."

Sakura slapped her forehead in frustration, while Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

"You're hopeless," the Jounin told her.

Rosuto was about to protest when she heard a sudden crash, and screaming voices coming from the hospital.

Naruto came bolting out the door, still in the hospital gown, but with his old clothes dangling on his arm.

"Get back here!!" one of the nurses scolded out the window of his room.

"Yeah, right! Forget this place, I'm leaving!!" he grumbled as he began walking out into the street – and bumped right into a very confused Sakura.

"Whoa, sorry 'bout that. Wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." Naruto looked around. "Hey, where's everybody else at?"

"Sasuke still hasn't come back yet," Kakashi answered, "but the rest of us are here."

"And me!!" Rosuto waved as she walked back over to where the others were standing. "Kakashi-kun, are we gonna leave soon or what?"

"Huh?! 'Kakashi-kun?' Since when are you on speaking terms with our sensei!? And what are you even doing here in the first place?!" Naruto pointed accusingly at the younger shinobi.

"She's supposed to be going to a meeting with Tsunade-sama, which you conveniently interrupted our departure to." Kakashi replied coolly.

"WHAT THE CRAP! She knows _Tsunade-sama_?" Naruto stood there, astonished, still pointing at Rosuto.

"Yes, now can we _please_ get going?!" Rosuto begged the Jounin. Kakashi stared back at her.

"Yeah, alright, seeing as we're already late, we should probably get a move on …"

"Oh, FINALLY!!" Rosuto cheered as Kakashi led the way down the street. The man turned his head to peer over his shoulder at Naruto. "If you're coming too, you better get changed."

"Right!!" Naruto immediately leapt into an alleyway and popped back up at the next one, fully clothed. "Last one to the old lady's house is a rotten egg!"

"And that's gonna be you!" Rosuto shouted back, chasing after him. Naruto smiled as they both took off running. _She looks rather pretty in that outfit …_

Kakashi shook his head as the two hooligans disappeared around the next corner. Internal bleeding, a punctured lung, and heart failure, and they still had energy to waste on such childish pursuits. He ripped off the end off of a pixie stick he'd saved and pulled his mask out just enough to dump the tasty powder onto his tongue, without letting anyone see his face. _These things aren't half bad,_ he thought. _No wonder that kid's addicted to them._

No one could tell by looking at him, but Kakashi was smiling.

Naruto raced through streets, along the alleys, and over rooftops, but no matter how hard he tried to shake her off, Rosuto was always a few feet behind him. It was unnerving how she mimicked his every leap, shadowed his every step, almost like she was copying his movements with Sharingan, that infamous Uchiha (let's not forget the one Hatake) technique. Soon, he could see the Hokage mansion, its towering height a comforting presence to the rest of the village.

"Is that our destination?" Rosuto nodded her head toward the building before him as she ran up to Naruto's side.

"Yup, that's the one," he grinned as he pushed his legs to go faster.

"Thanks." Rosuto put on a whole new burst of speed as she ran right past him, straight to the front entrance of the Hokage's office and living quarters.

Naruto slowed down to a jog as he traveled the last 50 feet to the door.

"How do you do that?" he looked at her in wonder.

"Aren't most shinobi fast?" was her only reply.

"No – I mean, how do you run in those shoes?"

The kunoichi burst out laughing.

--

Author's Note:

Ah, my third chapter so far in the first fanfic I've ever done. I feel like I've accomplished something – the other fanfic I started to write (and fortunately never posted) never even got past the first. Maybe I should bake a cake to celebrate the occasion … or maybe not. I'm too lazy to do that.

Didn't really go as I expected, but my other characters **will** show up!! (eventually …)

Naruto: LIAR!! (throws random object at munkee's head)

Munkee: Ow! That hurt, you jerk!!

Naruto: Then get on with it already!

Munkee: Alright, fine ... grumbles

Well, let's see here – Rosuto and Kakashi apparently have some kind of previous connection. Sakura is starting to feel a _little_ woozy. Sasuke comes to the hospital, only to find the desired occupants gone. Poof! But wait – why did Tsunade want to see Kakashi and Rosuto anyway? And is there really a _shoe_ jutsu? Find out next chapter!! (evil laughs)

Hold on a sec – did Kakashi say _future Jounin_?

Mmmm … pixie sticks …

NOW GET REVIEWING!!


	4. Chapter 4: The New ANBU

Disclaimer: of course I own Naruto. Wait, why don't you believe me? DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!

--

Five shinobi were in a room. One was sitting behind a large oak desk in a high-backed chair, dressed in her ceremonial red robes and hat. Her elbows were resting on the desk, her hands folded together and her fingers intertwined. Her eyes examined the ninja before her.

The first from the left was one she had known and trained for the last four years – since she was a twelve-year-old girl – and she had grown into a fine young woman. As kunoichi go, she was remarkably brilliant and talented in chakra control – she had made an outstanding medical ninja, as well as a caring teacher whose students excelled at the local academy. She wore her regular outfit – a chainmail shirt and simple shorts underneath the red dress bearing the Haruno symbol. She held her clasped hands in front of her, and smiled as one smiles politely at refined dinner parties.

The second was a tall man in his late twenties whom she had known and served with for over a decade, now. His unkept silver hair looked as if it had been blown over by the wind, and he wore the traditional Jounin uniform, as well as the metal-plated gloves he had never really taken off after his ANBU days. A simple cloth mask covered him from the bridge of his nose down to his shoulders, effectively hiding his features from all. His hitai-ate was pushed down over his left eye, covering the abilities it carried. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and he slouched as he stood before her. The way his only visible eye roved across the room clearly showed how bored he was with the proceedings. _He made me wait for two hours, _she thought, _he can wait for five more minutes._

The third was a young man whom all had come to dread as the forbearer of trouble. Wearing a black t-shirt and orange pants that had been rolled up to his calves, he clearly stood out against the dull blues, greens, and reds that dominated the village's clothing selection. He had abandoned his jacket, deciding that it was too hot to wear in the sweltering heat of the evening. It had reached up to 100° that day. His arms were crossed and he pouted as he gazed out the window, in the direction of the Ichiraku Noodle Bar. He was obviously irritated that he was missing his usual suppertime. The boy was fond of his ramen.

And the last stood in the corner, her eyes closed, her back leaning against the wall. She seemed troubled about something … it was rather strange that the subject of the meeting was hiding in the dimmest spot in the room, where Tsunade could hardly see her, while her fellow ninja were all facing her desk, only a few feet away.

The Hokage shuffled a few papers on her desk until she found the application for citizenship. "Ichino Rosuto … female, fourteen years of age, height of 63 inches, weight of 107 pounds, blood type O, adept in all ninja arts but relies heavily on ninjutsu. Is that information correct?" Tsunade asked the girl.

"Yes," was her only monotone response.

"Hmm … the recommendation here that Kakashi filed says that you are blind, and you fight using echolocation."

"Yes."

"It also seems that he thinks very highly of you. But I am not so sure. Come over here."

Rosuto slowly walked across the room to stand in front of Kakashi, right before Tsunade's desk. Her eyes were still closed and her face was calm as she faced the legendary Sannin and Hokage before her.

"From what I see here, you don't have what it takes to be in the ANBU Black Ops unit."

"Why not?" Rosuto calmly stated.

"Well, for one thing, look at what you are wearing. Not exactly practical, platform sandals."

"But she beat me here running in those shoes!" Naruto interjected. Tsunade cocked an eyebrow.

"Actually, Naruto, she's right." Rosuto formed several seals and declared, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Instantly, she was wrapped in smoke. When it faded a minute later, she was dressed in her normal clothes and her kunai and shuriken holsters were attached to her waist and thigh. Her hair was back in its original low ponytail, and the make-up so carefully placed by Sakura had been wiped away. All traces of her former finery were gone, except for the curls that remained in her hair.

"Better. But I still don't know if you have what it takes to be an ANBU. If you have what it takes to slay others on command." Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

"She nearly KILLED me!!" Naruto once again interrupted.

"Gave me a few bruises more than once." Kakashi admitted.

"So she fought you, but she didn't kill you. You're still standing in front of me. Will she be able to kill enemy nin?" Tsunade addressed the two men by leaning toward the right and looking over Rosuto's shoulder.

"I am more than ready to do that," Rosuto commented in a somewhat detached voice.

"Even though you weren't born in Konoha?"

"How does that make any difference? I've never even seen Konohagakure. Nor any of the other places I've been. But that doesn't mean I can't be loyal to any of them."

"And how do I know you are loyal to Konohagakure? How do I know you are loyal to me?"

"I am loyal to Kakashi, and he is loyal to you. I have no problem taking orders from you, Hokage-sama." Rosuto bowed her head in respect.

"And what of your companions that will be coming to be with you? Will they be loyal as well?"

"I can assure it with utmost certainty. If they are not, I will kill them myself."

Kakashi nodded over the girl's shoulder. Clearly, she wasn't joking.

Tsunade stared at Rosuto for a moment. She seemed to have the proper skills, and there was no doubt of her ability to take orders. But there was still one thing lacking.

"Why?" Tsunade asked. Rosuto turned her head as if she didn't understand the question.

"Why do you wish to serve Konoha?"

Rosuto was silent for a moment. Then, she leaned on the desk, opening her eyes wide, staring at Tsunade with her infamous unseeing, yet ever ominous, gaze.

"Three reasons. First, there is something here that I wish to protect. Second, I have only been here once before. No one knows me here. Third –" she leaned closer, her once calm eyes suddenly radiating menace, "– there is something that I wish to prove."

"You are willing to risk your life, put yourself in dangerous situations, and be surrounded by death and pain? To risk your health for people you have never met before and might never see again? All for those reasons, vague and ambiguous as they are?" Tsunade stared right back, even though she knew Rosuto couldn't see her. The girl flinched as though the gaze were a sharp knife, but held the contact.

"I am no stranger to death and pain. I can tell you that much. My reasons for being here are my own, and you might learn the full story someday. But for now, know this: I would willingly lay down my life for Konoha. I will go where you send me to, kill whom you tell me to, be who you want me to be. Just let me stay. Let me make his village my home." Rosuto closed her eyes as she finished the speech. Her arms were shaking, if only slightly, and a single tear rain down her cheek. Tsunade got up out of her chair and opened a drawer, pulled out a package, and walked around the desk, laying a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. She hadn't doubted Rosuto for a second.

"Then it's time you got one of these," Tsunade said, handing the package to the girl with her other hand.

Rosuto gently unwrapped it, her hand coming to rest on something smooth and hard. "What is it?"

Kakashi took the opportunity to answer. "It's the same thing I wore at your age. The armor of the Black Ops unit."

Rosuto smiled, clutching the uniform to her chest, no longer able to control the fresh flow of tears as they rolled down her cheeks.

--

Less then ten minutes later, Rosuto was walking back toward the Hokage's office, returning from the bathroom where she had gone to try on her new uniform. The long black pants and sleeveless black shirt helped to hide her body in the shadows, and she wore plated gloves, the fabric of which reached past her elbows. Light armor lay across her chest and back underneath her vest, as well as shin and lower-arm guards. In her hand she carried a white mask, painted in the simple image of a wolf. She had also changed out of her old sandals into the standard ANBU format – they were more heavy-duty, and had spikes on the soles for a better grip on uneven terrain. There was only one thing missing from her new attire – the tattoo that every ANBU bore on their left shoulder.

But that could wait until later tonight. Right now, she was standing outside the door to Tsunade's office, her hand resting on the knob. The moment she walked through this door, her days as a rogue-nin, wandering without purpose, selling her skills as a mercenary and dodging the tracking units, struggling to eat and wishing for more, would be over.

True, being a renegade was lonely work, but was she really ready to commit herself wholly to a woman she had only just met? Was she ready to fight with others in Konoha, people she hadn't ever known or even (she shuddered at the memory of Naruto's still form on the hospital bed) fought against; or possibly people who were close to those she had killed? Would this village accept her?

She was only fourteen after all, a child prodigy - and that wouldn't help much. Most people didn't appreciate children ordering them around, even if they were smarter than them. People couldn't stand that sort of thing. Couldn't stand people like her.

_Stop, _she thought. _Now you're just getting ahead of yourself. Focus, Rosuto, focus. Kakashi probably had the same problems in the war that you're having right now. _

Kakashi. The legendary Copy-Ninja, the wielder of the Lightning Blade. People respected him, admired him. If he could do it, then she could too. And if people knew _he_ trusted her, they might trust her as well. Kakashi had done so much for her. She really should do something for him one of these days …

Rosuto took a deep breath. _Here goes … _

Kakashi turned as he heard the doorknob click. "Hey, guys – she's back." The others all turned from their conversation to peer through the open doorway.

"How do I look?" Rosuto asked. For about a minute, no one replied. Then Naruto broke the silence.

"That outfit makes you look like you can kick some major ass."

"Definitely your style," Sakura added with a smile.

"I guessed your size pretty well." Tsunade commented.

But Rosuto wasn't really paying that much attention to them. She was focusing on Kakashi, her acute ear waiting for what he would say, but he simply turned his back again. Rosuto sweat-dropped.

"Kakashi? What do you think? Doesn't Rosuto look great?" Sakura prompted him. He merely shrugged.

"S'okay, I guess."

Rosuto put on her mask as she walked over to join the rest of the group. "Real supportive, aren't you?"

He shrugged again.

Suddenly, Rosuto's head perked up, and she turned her head so that her left ear faced the window Tsunade was standing in clear view of. Without warning, she yelled, "WATCH OUT!!" and tackled the woman to the ground, a mere second before something came crashing through the thin pane of glass, barely missing them and instead hitting Kakashi in the face.

"Oof!" he cried out, pulling one hand out of his pocket to catch the offending object as it bounced off his nose.

"What WAS that thing?!" Tsunade hollered, very irritated that a) she had almost been hit, b) that window would cost a lot of money to repair, and c) she had landed on a pile of scrolls and her elbow had hit the nearby bookshelf, knocking down more scrolls, manuscripts, books, and other various objects, effectively scattering them all over the floor, herself, and the young ANBU.

"A shoe?" Kakashi was perplexed as he held up the object in his hand. It was, indeed, a shoe – tennis shoe, to be exact.

"WTF!!" Naruto blurted out. "Who would throw a _shoe _through your window?!"

Rosuto immediately scrambled out from under the debris and over Tsunade on her way to the shattered window, which she promptly dove out of. Turning a neat somersault in midair, she landed lightly on her toes in a crouching position, throwing one hand in front of her to halt her momentum. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura followed right after, leaving Tsunade under a pile of crap and wondering exactly what the hell just happened.

Rosuto turned her head in all directions, her ears picking up every tiny sound coming from any point in the village. Something big was coming down the street, and she had a pretty good guess about what it was. She zeroed in on it, finding that her hunch was correct.

"Rosuto!" Kakashi ran up to her. "What is it? What's coming?" He pulled a kunai out of the holster strapped to his waist in preparation for battle.

"Hold on – don't attack just yet," the ANBU replied. "First see who it is."

Within five seconds, the "it" she referred to had come around the corner.

It was, I kid you not, a giant shoe.

Yes, a GIANT SHOE was "galloping" toward them, if you compared the movement to that of a horse, and on it rode a young woman. She was dressed in a black t-shirt with rhinestones proclaiming "The Doors" and blue jeans. Her shoulder-length black hair whipped around wildly as she struggled to hold on, her steely-blue eyes wide with a combination of panic and fury.

"DAMN YOU SHOE, SLOW DOWN!!" she proclaimed as she and the outrageously large shoe sped closer.

"NANI!?" Rosuto shrieked. (1)

"Yeah, really!" Naruto agreed.

"No, that's her name!" Rosuto explained.

"Nani?" he replied.

"Exactly!" Rosuto took off running as Nani passed them on her galloping shoe.

"Kids," Kakashi said with an exhasperated sigh, shaking his head before he ran after them both.

"What's going on here?" Sakura asked no one in particular.

"Dunno, let's go catch them!" Naruto declared as he grabbed her arm and dragged her along while he ran toward his former sensei. He had no clue what was happening, but he was determined to find out!

--

(Meanwhile)

Sasuke stopped by the hospital as soon as he got back to the village. He gratefully dropped his friends' luggage at the door and rushed in to talk to the nurse at the front desk.

"Uchiha Sasuke here, I've come to see a friend of mine," he panted, out of breath from the long trek back. The nurse looked up from her coffee and sudoku (2) puzzles, which she was doing horribly at, by the way.

"What's your friend's name?" she asked cheerfully.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The nurse turned to her computer and typed several things in before giving up and turning back to Sasuke.

"Well, I seem to be having trouble with the filing system, Sasugei (3) … maybe if you describe him to me I'll be able to help you find him."

Sasuke sweat-dropped. Not only did she get his name wrong, she didn't know who Naruto was. _Everyone_ knew who Naruto was.

"Okay … he's about two inches shorter than me, he has blonde spiky hair, blue eyes, and he's a ninja. Probably in critical condition." he said patiently.

"Oh, he's that one kid. Yeah, he left about 45 minutes ago with his friends – two girls and a silver-haired man – to go talk to somebody named the Hokage, I think. Whoever that is."

_Oh my god. She doesn't even know who the Hokage is. What kind of _MORON _is she!?_

Sasuke struggled to keep his voice level as he thanked her and walked out the front door. He ran off with two girls and a guy – that'd be Kakashi and Sakura, but who was the other girl? Ino? Hinata? Tenten?

And was it really that hard for them to stay in one place!?

--

Nani was having a bad day. She had lost her sandwich for lunch, the knee of her jeans had ripped, her dog had beaten her at Go-Fish (again!), and now her summoning shoe was going haywire! Not to mention the ninja who were chasing after her – they probably thought that she was an enemy!

She looked back over her shoulder and panicked. _Oh, shit! Now I've got an ANBU after me! And he's catching up! _

Rosuto was running full tilt toward the foreign shinobi, occasionally using the body flicker technique to jump forward several meters. Kakashi wasn't far behind, mimicking her idea and using the body flicker in order to catch up to them. Rosuto kept running until she was only three meters from the shoe and flickered one last time, landing right next to the other kunoichi, grabbing her from behind and dragging her off of the gargantuan footwear so that Kakashi could put a stop to its tirade.

"OH MY GOD!! PEDOPHILE!! HE'S GOT ME!!" Nani shrieked as Rosuto landed. The kunoichi kicked and punched at her captor, desperately trying to escape. But to no avail. The ANBU held her tight.

"Shut up, will you? I'm not a pedophile, I'm a girl!" Rosuto grunted through her teeth as Nani elbowed her in the face. Good thing she was wearing a mask, or that would have hurt a lot more.

"OH MY GOD!! THIS IS SO WRONG!! I'M BEING ABDUCTED BY A _HOMO-_PEDOPHILE!! SOMEBODY SAVE ME!!" Nani continued to squirm with a new vigor.

"I'M NOT A PEDOPHILE, YOU IDJIT!! CALM DOWN AND QUIT HITTING ME!!" Rosuto tried to pacify her hostage, but her voice was drowned out by Nani's earsplitting cries. _The whole village can probably hear the racket she's putting up,_ Rosuto thought. _For crying out loud, why can't she shut up!? What a way to start my career as an ANBU._

"AAAAAAAAHH!! PEDOPHILE!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Nani finally succeeded in breaking Rosuto's grip. She jumped away, and shook a fist at the ANBU's face. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF 'NO, GO AWAY'?!"

"What's wrong with _me?_ How about what's wrong with _you!?_ YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S TRESPASSING, DISTURBING THE PEACE, _AND _ASSAULTING A SHINOBI!!"

"ASSAULT IS AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD!! IF YOU DIDN'T WANT TO GET BEAT UP, WHY'D YOU BECOME A NINJA?!"

"DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO BEAT ME UP FOR TRYING TO **SAVE YOUR ASS**!! MAYBE NEXT TIME I WON'T BOTHER!!"

"SAVE ME?! YOU WERE TRYING TO KIDNAP ME, PEDOPHILE!!"

"I TOLD YOU, I'M NOT A FRIGGIN' PEDOPHILE!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" both of them screamed in frustration at the argument that was going nowhere and the stupidity of the other, which promptly lead to a slap-fight.

"WTF!? What are they _doing_?!" Naruto asked Kakashi as he pointed accusingly at the kunoichi. He had just caught up to them, pulling a disheveled Sakura in his wake.

"I'm not sure on this, but I think the black-haired one is winning." he answered, watching the proceedings with interest. He was still holding the laces of the huge shoe with his left hand as he did so.

"No, I mean, why are they having a _slap-fight_?! They're SHINOBI for crying out loud!!" the young man marched over to where Rosuto and Nani were standing, brought his fists up, and hit them both upside the head. "WOULD YOU TWO STOP IT?! YOU DISGRACE THE NAME NINJA!!" he shouted reprovingly at them.

"OW!" both girls cried out.

"B-but … I was almost abducted … by a pedophile!" Nani whined.

"You were not! I told you, I'm not a pedophile! I'M YOUR BEST FRIEND!!" Rosuto barked at her, throwing down the mask that concealed her face.

"OH MY GOSH, RO-CHAN!" Nani's face immediately brightened as she glomped her companion. The ANBU was only two years younger than her friend, but she was still swamped by Nani's comparitively larger girth.

"Nani … let go … can't breath!" Rosuto gasped.

"Sorry!"

"God … don't you guys know how to give _normal _hugs?" Kakashi stared at them. Nani turned away from Rosuto to look at him.

"You must be Kakashi." she offered him her hand to shake.

"Correct. And you're Nani, if I'm not mistaken?" he replied, keeping his hold on the summoning shoe with his left hand and not bothering to take his right one out of his pocket. Nani dropped hers. A long moment of silence passed between them.

"What's you're real name?" Kakashi blurted out suddenly.

"What's behind you're mask?" Nani shot back.

They continued to stare at each other for nearly a whole minute, his one eye glaring suspiciously at her, she returning his gaze in an equally distrusting manner, neither giving in nor giving quarter.

"You don't ask me, I don't ask you." Nani finally murmured in an I-won't-take-any-nonsense kind of voice.

Kakashi continued to glare at her for a few seconds before finally saying, "Deal."

They both relaxed, reverting back to their usual demeanors.

"You guys are so weird," Rosuto complained, hands on her hips. "Why are all my friends so weird!?"

"Because you're so weird that normal people would never want to be friends with you." Nani explained calmly.

"She's got a point there." Kakashi added.

"SHUT UP! WHO ASKED YOU GUYS, ANYWAY?!" Rosuto huffed.

"You did." he said quite simply.

"I SAID SHUT IT!" she shook her fist at him.

"Shinobi rule #25. A ninja must never show – " Kakashi began.

"Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah. Who needs those stupid rules, anyway?!" Rosuto interrupted him.

"You do."

"AAAAARGH!" She threw herself at the silver-haired man.

"Rosuto, stop it." Nani pulled her back by the ear.

"Ouch, that hurts!"

"By the way, do you want your shoe back or can I just get rid of it?" Kakashi asked Nani. He tugged on the laces, causing the shoe to hop closer to them.

"Oops – nearly forgot about that." Nani formed a few quick seals before laying her hand on the shoe, causing it to vanish in a puff of smoke. In its stead was left a green-camo backpack and a sleeping golden retriever.

"OBI, YOU JACKASS! WAKE UP!!" she yelled as she kicked the dog repeatedly in the chest.

"Huh?" the dog muttered, opening one eye to glance groggily in his mistress' direction.

"I WAS IN SERIOUS SHIT, AND YOU SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING!! WHY DO I FEED YOU?!"

"Because you think my fluffy fur is adorable," he reminded her.

"Oh yeah … BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT! You abandoned me in my time of _need_!" she stated theatrically.

"Whoa, your dog can TALK! Just like Kakashi's dog, what's his name … " Naruto interrupted.

"Pakkun." Sakura supplied the answer.

"Yeah, that one."

Obi (the dog) stared up at him. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

"Yeah … wait, WHAT!?" Naruto exploded with anger, coming out of his daze.

"Of course I can talk, moron. All animal-nin can." The retriever replied, closing his eye again.

"Is anyone else hungry? 'Cuz I am." Rosuto interjected with her sporadic statement.

"You're always hungry." Nani replied.

"Actually, I'm kinda hungry, too," Sakura said, absent-mindedly rubbing her shoulder where Rosuto's shuriken had wounded her.

"LET'S GO TO ICHIRAKU!!" Naruto shouted, grinning with excitement.

"Wuzzat?" Rosuto cocked an eyebrow.

"Only the BEST NOODLE STAND EVER!!" he replied, his eyes sparkling and his fingers twitching, just waiting to grab a pair of chopsticks and a bowl.

"OHMIGOSHRAMENILOVERAMENTAKMETOYOURAMEN!!" (translation: oh my gosh ramen I love ramen take me to your ramen) Rosuto shrieked happily and began jumping up and down. She began speaking so fast the others had trouble understanding her. "WERZARAMENIWANITGIVITOMENOW!!" (translation: where's the ramen I want it give it to me now)

"I thought she only got his hyper over candy," Kakashi said, slightly confused. "If I knew she liked ramen so much I would have tried that before."

"What's she saying?" Sakura asked. She was having trouble focusing. Rosuto wasn't helping with her million-miles-an-hour speech.

"To put it simply, she really wants that ramen." Nani shrugged. "I won't bother telling you the whole thing."

"Oh … where am I?" Sakura was having trouble remembering exactly what it was she was doing. A ringing noise sounded in her ears, and a fogginess was taking hold of her mind, blocking her thoughts from connecting properly. The ground beneath her started to spin …

"Sakura, are you okay?!" an urgent voice reached her muddled brain. She couldn't tell who it was. _It sounded like Naruto. Was it Naruto? Wait … who's Naruto? Does he taste good? _(5)

The others watched in horror as Sakura's eyes rolled back and she collapsed, unconscious.

--

Footnotes:

1. This is a Japanese play on words. "Nani" means "what" in Japanese, so when Rosuto says "Nani?" she's saying her friend's name. Naruto, however, believes she's saying "Nani?" as in "What's going on?", so he agrees, saying "Yeah, really!" So when Rosuto tells him that her name is Nani and he replies, "Nani?" as in, "What exactly do you mean?" she thinks he's saying "Nani?" as in, "Really? Her name is Nani?", she replied by saying "Exactly". This, of course, was done on purpose by kakashiindrag (my coauthor and the friend Nani is based off of).

2. Sudoku is a popular logic game, where the player is given a nine-by-nine grid, and has to fill in the numbers one through nine in every column, row, and three-by-three box based off the numbers already provided. Many people find it difficult to solve, but it's addictive, and also is proven to help decrease the chances of memory loss and improve your I.Q.

3. This is just me messing around with Sasuke's name - the way the nurse says it, it would be pronounced "Sas-gay" instead of "Sas-kay". That one was just for laughs.

4. Actually, there isn't a four, you're just imagining things. You crazy person.

5. This is a play on Naruto's name - in Japanese, naruto is actually a kind of fishcake you eat with ramen. Apparently, Kishimoto-sensei really likes his noodles. In case you were wondering, Sakura is the word for cherry blossoms, Sasuke's name was derived from the name of a famous samurai (which is also where his clan symbol, the fan, comes from; it was considered good luck in feudal Japan), and Kakashi is the word for a scarecrow.

--

Author's Note:

HAHAHAHAA!! POSSIBLY MY BEST CLIFF-HANGER YET! MY EVIL PLAN IS IN MOTION!!

And a slightly long chapter … totaled 9 pages, 159 paragraphs, 338 lines, 4176 words, 19251 characters without spaces and 25500 with spaces. That's _not_ including disclaimer or author's note! Well, actually, I went back and added some more stuff, so that's not entirely accurate, it's really more. I usually don't make my chapters this long. But then again, the story "The Leaf That Found Its Way" (totally cool, recommend it to all you lord of the rings fans) gets 16000+ words per chapter. Maybe that's why there's only, like, five of them so far. So my wimpy little chapters pale in comparison! (cries) … yeah, the _shortest _one of those is 5000+ words. But that's okay!! POWER TO THE 5-10 PAGE LONG CHAPTERS!! MY STORY IS GOOD TOO, EVEN IF IT'S SHORT! AND I'LL PROBABLY HAVE MORE CHAPTERS THAN THEY DO, SO HA!!

Anyway, so Sakura's in intensive care, Tsunade has a poker match with Obi, Nani demonstrates her shoe-jutsu, Rosuto, Kakashi and Naruto have a _very _long talk, and Sasuke STILL CAN'T FIND THE REST OF CELL SEVEN!! That's okay though, I can torture him cuz he's an emo jerk with a stick shoved up his ass all the time. And he smells. So there.

Btw, my good friend kakashiindrag is helping me by co-authoring the next chapter. Look her up some time.

Mmmmm … ramen …

One, two, three, four, … um, go and review some more! (okay, so maybe I'm not a good cheerleader. Just do it, okay?)


	5. Chapter 5: Noodles and Apple Pie

Yo, peeps!

First, I'd like to thank kakashiindrag, my best buddy, who plays the role of Nani in this fic. She was the one who typed out all this crap that I wrote ... I don't know how she puts up with me sometimes ...

And also, I'd like to thank the total of THREE PEOPLE out of OVER A HUNDRED who actually reviewed. When you read a story, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO FRIGGIN' REVIEW IT!! GRRR!!! I always try to review the stories I read at least once, I don't see what's so hard about that. All you gotta do is click the review botton thingy at the bottom of the page and tell me how much you liked my story, or how much it sucked. I don't really care! JUST DO IT ALREADY!!!

Okay, ranting over.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Kakashi, or Sakura, or Nani (that be kinda weird...) or any of the wonderful people and things in this fic. BUT I DO OWN PIXIE STICKS!!! (holds up bag of candy)

Kakashi, Rosuto, and Naruto were sitting in a row in front of the counter at Ichi-raku's. The silence was imamate, weighted with their worry over Sakura. She had been rushed to the E.R.- no word on how she was doing. Rosuto wasn't overly troubled, OF COURSE. Sakura had only been in her life for a day. Not that she wasn't concerned, but it wasn't in her nature to linger on such things.

Kakashi wasn't too deeply affected, he knew that Sakura was strong. "She'll pull through, no need to get upset at all." He told himself over and over. He was worried - he just didn't show it.

Naruto, on the other hand, definitely showed his anxiety. He was worried enough for all three of them. He didn't even touch his ramen when they had been served. "I knew it," he thought. "I knew she was badly wounded... I should have stayed with her!" He mentally kicked himself. She probably got an infection or something.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked leaning around Rosuto, "You haven't even touched your ramen. Are you feeling okay?"

"No."

"It was the shuriken wasn't it?" Rosuto suddenly said out of nowhere. "One hit her, didn't it?" she put down her chopsticks at the right side of her deep ecru bowl.

"Yeah - one. Right on her shoulder." He muttered his blonde hair falling all about his downward tilted head.

"I'm sorry. I. . . didn't mean to, I really didn't mean to hit her." She apologized. "Should have packed steel. Those shuriken were lead. She must've been poisoned." Rosuto was thinking aloud at this point.

"You mean ... Lead - POISONED?! She's been LEAD-POISONED?!?" He grabbed Rosuto's shirt, whipping her around in her chair. "What did you do to her?! Is she gonna DIE?!" he frantically shook her.

"No, Naruto, she won't die." Kakashi got up and calmly sat him back in his chair, forcing to release his grip on the ANBU. "She's just sick, that's all. She received only one small wound. We should be more worried about the infection than the poisoning."

Naruto sighed deeply, as it in an attempt to release his cares along with the air in his lungs. He nervously ran his hands through his hair.

"Naruto, I'm sorry." Rosuto stated. The words were kind in enough in their meaning, but the tone of her voice made it sound forced.

"You don't mean that." He glared up at her.

"What more do you want from me? You want me to take a magic wand and suddenly poof her disease away? It's not my fault she got wounded." She snapped up at him.

"It's your fault that we got into that fight in the first place!" He shot back.

"How was I supposed to know you guys were from Konoha would I hid all those traps? I heard voices, I challenged you, you lost, END OF STORY! I wasn't even going to fight you in the first place, and I wouldn't have if I'd known who you were."

"You picked the fight!"

"Well, you can thank your buddy Sasuke for that!"

"So you're blaming us for your temper control? Or lack there of!"

"No, I'm saying the fight was instigated! By _your_ team!"

"Sure, go on and blame it on all of us! Just because Sasuke ticked you off doesn't mean you have to hospitalize the rest of us! What did Sakura ever do to you?!"

"Nothing! She just got in the way!"

"Oh, so you mow down innocent bystanders all the time?!"

"Well, ninja can't exactly be innocent bystanders!"

"You don't have to attack her out of nowhere!"

"Both of **you** were chasing **me**! So, I attacked! CLEARLY provoked!"

"Why were you in the middle of the woods anyway!?"

"To met you guys! Kakashi asked me to come!"

"Oh, so now it's Kakashi messed up, huh?"

"I **never** said that! - "

"Please, you two, don't bring me into this..." Kakashi begged, although not enthusiastically. He knew they wouldn't listen.

"AND, why did you attack me?!" Naruto ignored him for the time being.

"Hey, in the clearing, _you_ the one who attacked _me_ first!" Rosuto shot back.

"No, our hands locked - our eyes met - and you went ballistic." Naruto's voiced changed from the furious forte, loud and accusatory, to a inquisitive, yet cautious tone. Rosuto about continued the argument, but upon hearing his words, she suddenly bit her tongue, flinching and turning away as though the sentence caused her physical pain.

"Why?" He whispered.

Rosuto turned her back to him, cupping her face in her hands, refusing to answer.

"Rosuto - " Kakashi began, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. She batted his hand away, and ran the other through her hair, her fingers continuing down her neck to massage her shoulders in order to relieve so of the tension there. She let out a heavy sigh before turning to face Naruto again.

"Okay ... look. I have this weird ability-thing. Because I'm blind, I have better hearing and other senses. Some 80 of your knowledge of the outside world comes from sight, so when you go blind, your other senses almost double in capacity to pick up the slack. And since I'm a ninja, through training I've heightened them even more. My hearing, smell, and touch are all about twice as good as Kakashi-sensei's. With me so far?" She explained.

"Yeah ... I think so." Naruto answered, scratching his head.

"This has a lot of side effects. Since my hearing range is like that of a dogs our wolf's, through sound I can locate and track things - people and objects. Or, through touch, I feel the vibrations in the air, especially those from chakra, so I can sort of read someone's aura - like the energy their chakra puts off - when I stand close to them. Much like how Kakashi reads people's chakra signatures, expect about five times more sensitive, and with a lot less effort. And for some reason, that is reinforced through eye contact. I sort of pick up on their emotions. Did you get all that?"

"Umm...yeah..." Naruto was a little lost. "What does that to do with you going wacko?"

"I'm getting to that. See when you looked into my eyes, right in the middle of the battle - when a shinobi's senses are extra sharp - I caught some of your bitterness and resentment toward the citizens of this village. And ... "

"Go on," Naruto motioned for her to continue, then put down his hands, remembering she couldn't see it.

"It reminded me of how I felt the same way toward a lot of the people where I come from. And how weak I was back then. And how I had promised myself to not lose again, not if I could help it. It reminded me of why I came here in the first place,"

"Huh? Why?" He asked, slightly confused.

"May be I'll tell you ... Not today, though."

Throughout this whole conversation, Kakashi had looked on in interest. He was slightly surprised how much Rosuto had been willing to share. He had only learned the workings of her fighting style through his Sharingan, and later had to press her for more in-depth explanation. It had taken several months to figure out what she had openly told Naruto. Maybe because they were so much alike, Kakashi thought. Or perhaps the fact that Naruto was so easy to talk to. No matter what you're going through, he understands.

"So, wait," Naruto asked the ANBU, interrupting Kakashi's musings, "How does the whole eye-contact thing work?"

"I'm not exactly sure on that. But eyes are very good at expressing emotion, and I'm sensitive to people's outward feelings, so me and Kakashi think it might have to do with that - like people's eyes make reading their aura easier and some-such."

"Oh ... I don't get it." Naruto was officially clueless.

Rosuto shrugged. "Neither do I, really. I just know it works."

"Well, I'm gonna go check and see how Sakura's doing at the hospital." He said as he stood off his stool. "I'll be there if you guys need me for anything." Naruto had the cook put his ramen in a to-go bowl and left. Rosuto sat in silence for a few minutes, reflecting. Kakashi stared at her.

"Ro-chan?" Kakashi ventured. No answer was given not even to the call of her affectionate nickname, "Ro-chan?" Kakashi tried again. She rested her head in her hands. He realized she was trembling. A single crystal tear ran down her tan cheek. "Hey," Kakashi whispered gently, "Buck up, kiddo. What's the matter, huh?"

Rosuto then turned her head so that he could see her whole face. The looks she gave him said it all - the mental anguish, the total agony - she was starting to have a mental breakdown. Even his hardened heart melted from that expression of wholehearted suffering. He knew too full well what was wrong. Naruto had unwittingly poured salt on old festering wounds that time had yet to rebuild when he asked for that explanation. Rosuto was a usually happy, sure, but that was all fake. He knew that inside the young ANBU was simply another broken and badly mended soul, just waiting to fall apart again. The same way he had been at her age. The same way he still felt when he woke up each morning thinking about what he had lost. Back then he didn't have anyone. But he could be there for her.

"Ro-chan, its alright. Come on." He held out his arms, and the girl gladly fell into his embrace, her tears slowly soaking his vest. Knowing she wouldn't want anyone else to see her in her moment of weakness, Kakashi used the body-flicker to transport them back to his apartment, where they sat on his couch, Rosuto silently sobbing, and he silently comforting her. And there they remained, until she cried herself to sleep.

A/N: Okay, this seems like a good place to end the chapter, don't you think? Hah, yeah right like I would be that evil. Well actually, I would, but I don't feel like it right now. SO continue with the story!

Kakashi: Will do. As soon as I change my shirt... this one's soaked.

Ro-chan: SHADDUP! JUST TO IT!

Kakashi: Okay, fine... (slinks away, slightly annoyed)

Sakura woke up the next morning to a white ceiling. _Wait - my ceiling's not white, its pink... where am I?_ She wondered. Then her hearing kicked in, with it came the faint beeping of a heart monitor and the steady whoosh of a respirator. She slowly moved her hand across the bed she was laying in and its freshly made linen. She must be in a hospital. And then it clicked. She had collapsed ... why? She couldn't remember. She still had a major headache. Slowly the kunoichi propped herself up on her elbows, turning her head to get a good look around. The first thing she noticed was Naruto, with his arms crossed and his head resting on them so he faced her. He had drooled all over her blanket ... He must have fallen asleep last night waiting on her to regain consciousness. He really shouldn't have, he had only just gotten out of the hospital himself. Must he always wear himself out like that?

"Finally awake? It's nearly noon, sleeping beauty." A voice to her right commented.

Sakura turned her head to see a young woman around her age sitting in a chair. She wore an over-sized, navy-blue hoodie proclaiming "COLUMBIA" in bright large white letters, faded blue jeans, and neon green tennis shoes. Her shoulder- length black hair was tied back in a low ponytail with long bangs hanging loosely in front of her eyes (despite several attempts over the last five minutes to blow them out of the damn way). A pencil was stuck behind each of her slightly pointed ears, and she held another in her hand, the point of which that rested against a page of a sketchbook in her lap.

"What's Columbia?" Sakura asked bluntly, scratching her head.

"Not "who are you", "what are you doing here", not even a polite "how's the weather"? Instead you wake up and the first thing out of your mouth is, 'What's Columbia?'!" The visitor chuckled to herself.

"You never answered my question."

"It's many things."

"Such as..."

"In this case it's a name of a university."

"You went there?"

"No."

"Then why do you wear the hoodie?"

"Because I can, and I want to. By the way, in case you can't remember, I'm Nani, age of 15, rogue ninja, and shoe-master extraordinaire to the nth degree. And the case of the never-ending drool is Naruto or so he said though he was more into the ramen than talking and he stared at you mostly ... " She added as an afterthought.

"I already know who he is ... do you think we should wake him up?" Sakura asked, unsure of the situation.

"Nah - he just fell asleep like twenty minutes ago. Let him nap a little longer, he needs it." Sakura had been right - he was up all night for her.

She looked back at the strange shinobi. She seemed mature enough to be at least twenty, and she nearly met Kakashi in height. How could she be only 15?! She also was well built, with broad shoulders and toned muscles ... yet almost no hips. But the feature that struck Sakura the most was Nani's steely blue eyes. They were somehow icy and stoic, yet warm and cheerful at the same time. But even more, in their depths like a mighty river, they gave off a powerful aura of life and energy. Something told Sakura this girl had won a lot of staring contests in her life. Naruto suddenly leapt up, grabbing some invisible object on his way up.

"NO! RAMEN, DON'T LEAVE ME!" He gave in a theatrical shout, before returning to sleep once again.

"You dork ... " Sakura muttered at the boy at the foot of her bed.

"Oi! Dumbass!" Nani reached out and nudged Naruto's head (none too lightly) with her foot. "Wake up already!"

"I thought you said we should let me sleep ... " Sakura trailed off confused at the unfolding scene.

"That's the fifth time his done that! It's war little buddy, you're gonna get my shoe now!"

"NO, I DON'T LIKE BUNNIES!" Naruto shout though clearly still asleep.

"God damn it YOU'RE worse than A F-ING SOAP-OPERA!" She looked aspirated for a second till, " I said WAKE UP! You little piece of shit I know you can hear me!" Nani then preceded to kick him harder, much harder.

"Would you like an apple pie with that!" He asked to another invisible person-thing-whatever to his left.

"WAKE UP, DAMMIT! I will not stand for this any longer, ITS NOT FUNNY I SWEAR!" Nani then kicked him so hard that he fell out of the chair.

"WHOA, WHAT WAS THAT?!" Naruto jumped up, kunai in hand, hair waving in all directions as he turned his head back and forth ready to attack.

"You idjit!" I've been trying to wake you _up_!" Nani would have slapped him upside the head if he was closer, but she didn't feel like walking over there to do so.

"Oh, Sakura!" You're awake!" Naruto blurted out, completely ignoring Nani.

"Yeah. I noticed." She replied.

"We should get some ramen to celebrate!" He shouted gleefully.

"STUPID, THIS IS A HOSPTITAL! QUIT SHOUTING!" Nani threw a shoe at him. "Besides, we can't go anywhere until Sakura's better."

"Oh, yeah." He plopped back down in his seat, ribbing the newly forming bruise on his arm where the shoe had made contact.

"Anyway, I got a message from Kakashi around 9:00 saying he'd be here by 10:00 ... that means that he should be here soon, considering how late he is." Nani remarked

"Yo." Amazingly, right at the moment, Kakashi walked in, closely followed by Rosuto - wearing her normal garb, I might add.

"Konichiwa, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura greeted with a smile and wave.

"Awake already, huh?" He asked her; then turned to Naruto, "See, what did I tell you, nothing to worry about, as long there's no infection." He ruffled his former student's hair. Naruto merely scowled.

Rosuto walked over and placed a vase with a single white lily on the nightstand next to Sakura's bed. She didn't say anything, but the expression that flashed on her face for a brief moment expressed her guilt. Sakura responded by gently touching her shoulder as of to say," It's okay. I forgive you." Rosuto smiled, but still didn't say anything.

"Sakura, do you mind if I take the rest of these hooligans out for training?" Kakashi asked her.

"No, not at all - I'll be fine by myself."

"Okay, come on! Let's move, troops!" Kakashi promptly walked put the door, closely by Naruto and Nani, who picked up the shoe she had thrown on her way out. Rosuto lingered, her face positioned as though she were looking out the window.

"Rosuto-san?" Sakura asked, adding the honorific almost by instinct - after all she _was _an ANBU, even if Sakura was her senior by two years.

"I wonder what the sky looks like today ... " was the only thing that passed her lips as Rosuto walked out the door.

Kakashi whistled aimlessly as he led the way through the streets and toward the training grounds - this time, near the bridge over the river.

'Kakashi, why are you whistling?" Naruto asked.

"Why does it matter?" he replied nonchalantly.

"I've never heard you whistle before, except to your dogs. So why start now?"

"Nice observation... I was whistling so it would be easier for Rosuto to follow us... she's been lagging behind, and it's hard to keep track of every person in the middle of a village as busy as this one." He explained.

Nani turned around. Sure enough, Rosuto wasn't behind them, and Nani couldn't see her through the crowded marketplace. "I need to get her a leash ... " the kunoichi slapped her forehead.

"Hey! Rosuto! Over here!" Naruto yelled out into the crowd.

"WHERE THE FRACK DID SHE GO?!" Nani screamed, frustated.

"Right here." a voice said behind her, and she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"OMYGOD! Don't scare me like that! One of these days I'm gonna accidently kill you when you sneak up behind me! Just stop it!"

"Okay, sheesh ... " the ANBU crossed her arms in front of her chest, irritated.

"Move it, guys ... we're never going to get to the training ground if you guys just sit there the whole time." Kakashi stated, and began walking again. His students/new aquantances all fell into step behind him. And nearly ran into him when he suddenly stopped mid-stride, glancing to his right. His foot was still hovering several inches above the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Nani yelled at him.

"What's going on, Kakashi-kun?" Rosuto asked him.

"THE NEW ICHA ICHA PARADISE VOLUME IS OUT!!!" he suddenly shrieked, running straight up to the window of the bookshop they had just stopped in front of. As fast as anything, the Jounin zipped right inside to the shelf where his precious novel lay waiting, and he did the I-got-a-new-Icha-Icha-Paradise-book-dance as he payed for the item and walked out of the shop, and buried his face into its pages.

"WRONG WAY, STUPID!!" Nani shouted at him, throwing a shoe at the back of his head. He had gone the complete opposite direction of the way they were supposed to be going.

"Sorry." He immidiately did a 180 degree turn and headed off.

"That was random ... " Rosuto muttered to herself.

Okay people, that's all for now. I won't have the next thing for a while yet ... still working out the details of the next few days in Konoha. Sorry for any mistakes in this one, kinda did it in a rush...

PLEASE REVIEW, PEOPLE!!!

ps - btw, i accidently forgot the foot notes for the last chapter, so here they are:

(1) This is a Japanese play on words, for those who are unfamiliar with the language. When Rosuto screams "Nani", she's saying the girl's name. Naruto, however, thinks that she's screaming "WHAT?!?" as in WTF?, because nani what in Japanese. So, he agrees, saying, "yeah, really!". Then, Rosuto tells him that Nani is he girl's name, and he says "Nani?" as in "What? You can't be serious.", but Rosuto thinks he's saying "Nani" as in "Oh, Nani's her name? Did I get that right?" and she says "Exactly!" ... keep reading over this and Chapter Four until you find that it starts making sense.

(2) I LUV SUDOKU PUZZLES!!! They're so much fun...

(3) This is a play on Sasuke's name. Usually, you say it like SA-soo-kay, but the nurse says SA-soo-gay, as in Sasuke's gay... (chuckles evilly) which me and Nani do all the time.

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!!


	6. Chapter 6: In Which Training Begins

A/N: Hello everybody, sorry it took so long to get the chappie up, but I suffered from a severe case of writer's block and it seemed that every time I tried to type I was very rudely interrupted … which kinda sucks for you guys, yeah. Okay, this is the revised version from the one that kakashiindrag did, I had to fix her mistakes, so enjoy .!

Nani stared unfazed at the small blade of grass. She reached out with her left hand and poked at it, once, twice, and again. Rosuto blinked. Her head cocked at the sound to the right, and then to the left.

"What the crap?!"

"Huh?"

"What are you _doing, _poking at the grass?!"

"Oh ..." Nani looked at her friend, then the grass, then Rosuto again. "Uh ... well ... I like its color. It's pretty. It's nice. It's soft. It shines with the reflecting light of the sun. And I wonder what note it makes ..."

The ANBU slapped her forehead. "Ugh ... why am I friends with you again? Please remind me."

"Remember? It was a dark and stormy night," she began in a theatrically creepy voice. "You were in a tree, trying to be moody. But I wouldn't let you." Her voice lost the dramatics to a higher pitch happy tone of a cartoon character and slowly it got serious again, "So I threw a shoe at you. It was a bunny slipper. I didn't even own one and still don't, it was from the guy I beat up three nights previously. He played dirty pool ... seriously; his swimming pool was really dirty -"

"AAH! STOP! I GET IT ALREADY! Geez, do you always have to tell your stories like a movie-announcer guy?" Rosuto cried in frustration. "Besides, that doesn't even make sense! He played dirty pool and his swimming pool was dirty?! WTF!?"

Naruto merely looked on in wonder as the two girls carried on. They had reached the training ground a few minutes ago, and almost immediately, Nani had ducked down to stare at the grass, which led to this _interesting_ conversation ... for lack of a better word.

"Girls are so weird ..." he muttered to himself. His hands stuck into his black-striped orange pants, which caused them to slip exposing his green patterned boxers. His spiky blonde hair, which he tussled with his right hand, calloused from the many years of hand-to-hand combat, hand signs, and the cool smooth surfaces that belonged to shuriken and kunai. He glanced over to Kakashi; he gave him an unnoticed nod about the two bickering though they both understood this wasn't going to get far.

"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Rosuto shouted, shaking her fist at him. Her blood began to pound in her ears and her raging breath hindered her senses as she tried to quell it.

"Actually, Ro-chan, he's got a point." Kakashi popped up behind her and said. He had quickly jumped from his spot in the end of the path near a large full tree whose leaves danced mystically in the spring breeze.

"GRR! WHO ASKED YOU?!"

"Nobody."

"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING ANYTHING?!?"

"OOH! A dandelion!" Nani exclaimed gleefully as she trotted over to a small, fluffy white flower. Now the two male shinobi looked desperately at the heaven for some kind of reason for such cruel punishment as to suffer this.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Rosuto yelled at her. "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO RANDOM IN THE MIDDLE OF MY ARGUEMENT!? YOU ALWAYS DO THIS!!"

Kakashi and Naruto watched as the kunoichi interacted, wondering what the next turn was.

"But I like dandelions! They're so fuzzy! And white is one of my favorite colors! And so is green! It has both!"

Rosuto smacked her forehead again leaving a slight red mark for a second. "Why do I even bother?!"

"I don't know, but perhaps you should stop if it drives you so crazy." Nani replied calmly her face stoic for a second, then in a flash a smile reappeared on her.

"Anyway ..." Kakashi began; his one uncovered eye beamed his slight amusement and annoyance. "We should probably start training now ..."

Naruto whipped around to face him, abandoning the entertainment that the girls behind him provided.

"OOH OOH OOH! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO FIRST?!" he asked, repeatedly jumping up and down.

"Taijutsu." Kakashi pulled out his Icha Icha Paradise. "Just like in your survival test. Let's see if you do any better this time." the sensei drawled out lazily.

"Oh ... are we starting now?" Nani asked, clueless of the situation.

"No, Nani, he just said that we were gonna start two minutes ago to exercise his tongue. OF COURSE WE'RE STARTING, DUH!" Rosuto whacked her friend in the back of the head.

"Okay ... just come at me whenever." Kakashi stated.

"ALRIGHT! On guard, sensei!!" Naruto shouted at the silver-haired jounin, leaping at him with an energetic ferocity.

Nani took advantage of Naruto's distraction and slowly crept in an inching sort of fashion away, off somewhere to make preparations.

Rosuto just stood there and decided to listen to Naruto getting his butt kicked. Then she thought of something. "Hey, Nani! Wait up!"

"WHAT?!" the rogue-nin whirled around to face her. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO SNEAK OFF?!"

"Yeah I can NOT see, now let me borrow an eye. I wanna watch this."

"Uh ... NO. That justu hurts like hell! My body isn't for your own personal usage ... Gaw! That sounded so wrong" Nani the continued sneaking

"Fine, whatever. I'll just have to settle for echolocation, then. Can't make this simple, can you?" Rosuto shook her head in resignation, and with speed that was hard for the eye to follow, she formed the hand sings for her specialty jutsu.

"Kinmotsu Bijon Ne!" (1) she declared, her hands resting in the 'dragon' position, and she started to hum. The note was classified as infrasound, too low for the human ear to hear - well, any human but her, that is. The jutsu had also fully activated her hearing abilities, and a rush of sound came to her suddenly. The frequency she was projecting vibrated through her vocal cords and spread throughout the clearing, the sound reflected and absorbed at different rates and returning to her ears. In her mind, she could "see" it: the trees, the grass, the river and the small bridge that spanned it, as well as her companions. For nearly a minute, she held the note, and she could picture her surroundings clearly from the sound waves that they reflected. She had chosen to use infrasound in order to keep from throwing off the other's fight, as well as to conceal her own location in case she decided to hide. But her "vision" suddenly diminished as she took a breath. That was the only major drawback to this jutsu - it all depended on her breathing. If she stopped humming, the refraction of sound would stop. And in the midst of battle, her heart rate would increase, which meant that she would have to breathe more often and the intervals of detailed sonar became shorter, that could be deadly. She would usually avoid using this jutsu unless absolutely necessary, but she had to get all the details possible of this fight.

Naruto flipped over twisting his body ending in a slight roundhouse kick, dodged a right-handed hook from his sensei. Seeing a perfect chance to slightly startle the man by changing his order of movements he folded his hands in the proper hand sign and bellowed in his high, rough voice, "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" another of his limbs tried to double kick Kakashi in the lower abdomen, whom simply without even glancing from his Icha Icha Paradise blocked the rapid inhumanely fast kick. Four of his clones flipped over and over spinning is tactical surround. Checking off all the exits Kakashi might run off to Naruto planned his next move he brought his hands together his face stern with resolve. "Bunshin Taiatari!"

Kakashi looked up at the numerous dive bombing clones. The frown upon his face dropped an inch or so. His eye brow twitched and he took off in a burst speed, trying to dodge. The only thought that passed through his mind was ... "Oh Shit! This is going to hurt,"

1) Kinmotsu bijon ne - forbidden sound vision. Why forbidden, you ask? Because of anyone else tried to do it, they'd blow out their eardrums and would never have a decent sense of balance again. Co-author kakashiindrag made it up (Nani, I salute you!).


End file.
